White Sox ride 5-run 5th, Lopez to take finale

Young righty limits Rangers to 2 ER in 6 1/3 IP; Abreu, Davidson, Avi star at the plate

July 1st, 2018

ARLINGTON -- The Chicago White Sox put together a big inning of their own Sunday, after being doomed by them in the first two games of their series against the Texas Rangers.
Chicago scored five times in the fifth inning, matching its biggest frame of the season, on its way to a 10-5 victory at Globe Life Park. The win helped the White Sox avoid their first three-game sweep in Texas since 2007.
With the game tied at 2 after left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, Chicago batted around against Texas ace Cole Hamels and took the lead for good. The White Sox strung together four straight hits to do their damage, and had 14 total on the day to help end a three-game losing streak.
"Everybody contributed, and it's cool when everybody up and down the lineup is getting hits," said first baseman Matt Davidson, who had a two-run double in the frame and finished with three hits and three RBIs. "We were able to lay off some of the pitches. When [Hamels] is really effective, he's able to get that cutter inside, the changeup down and away and the curveball down in the zone. There were a couple of key at-bats to get those early RBIs and chip away. When he made mistakes, we were able to take advantage of it."

The White Sox got going in the fifth after reached first on a strikeout and wild pitch. followed with an RBI double to give Chicago a 3-2 lead. 's single pushed the margin to 4-2, and two batters later, Davidson hit his two-run double off the wall in left-center field. Catcher capped the scoring with a bloop single to right.
That outburst proved to be more than enough support for Lopez (4-5), who beat the Rangers in both of his starts against them this year. Lopez scattered seven hits over 6 1/3 innings, allowing just two runs and three walks against six strikeouts. He has now won consecutive starts for the first time this season and had a season-high eight runs of offensive support behind him.
Lopez also saved a tired bullpen by throwing a career-high 114 pitches on a day that had a first-pitch temperature of 97.
"I liked it all," said Lopez. "All my pitches were working very good. I felt good. The weather was hot, but I was focused. I just tried to not pay attention to the weather. It was good. I came back focused in the whole inning and I executed my pitches."
The righty had plenty of help from the offense, with the top of the order doing most of the damage. went 2-for-3 and added three RBIs to push his season total to 50. He put the White Sox up 1-0 in the first with an RBI grounder, extended the lead to 2-0 with an RBI triple in the third and made it 8-2 in the seventh with a sacrifice fly. Garcia went 4-for-5 with a two doubles, triple and three runs scored. Anderson also had two hits and scored twice.

"The last couple of games before this, [the Rangers] have been able to tack on runs and do everything they needed to do," Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. "Today, we tacked on some runs in situations a little more efficiently. They didn't try to press. I think they stayed within themselves, got pitches they could handle and generated the offense they did."
GARCIA EXITS WITH JAMMED FINGER
Left fielder exited the game after striking out during Chicago's big fifth inning. Garcia, who was 0-for-3, exited because of a jammed finger on his left hand and he was replaced in left for the next inning by Charlie Tilson. Garcia said he hurt the finger in Saturday's game. He'll be re-evaluated Monday in Cincinnati. Garcia, who has been limited to 48 games this year after missing time because of a sprained left knee, was 0-for-12 in the series.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
With the game tied at 2 and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, Lopez struck out looking to end the inning. The Rangers had scored twice in the frame and Choo came into the game with a 41 game on-base streak and 12-game hitting streak. He was 0-for-4 against Lopez before extending the streak to 42 with an eighth-inning walk.

SOUND SMART
The White Sox are taking their spot as the American League leaders in triples seriously. Chicago added two more Sunday, with Abreu and Avisail Garcia getting in on the act. Abreu's RBI triple came in the third and Garcia scored following his three-bagger in the seventh. Chicago now has 25 triples, three more than the New York Yankees.

MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
The White Sox scored in the first and third innings after their leadoff hitter reached. Leury Garcia briefly gave Chicago another chance in the fourth. He was initially ruled safe in an infield grounder to short. But after a replay, the call was overturned after just 37 seconds and Hamels went on to retire the side in order.

UP NEXT
and the White Sox will try to get things turned around at Great American Ball Park on Monday at 6:10 p.m. CT against Cincinnati right-hander . The White Sox have dominated the Reds in Interleague Play, winning 16 of the 20 matchups, including 10 of 12 in Cincinnati. The last time the White Sox were in Cincinnati was 2009, Chicago took two of three.